Dear Dennis,
Further to your most recent email.
Although the Oxford regulations on the subject are very terse (lists
on a notice board at the Examination Schools - in practice
supplemented by similar lists in colleges), our first degree
examinations are known as Public Examinations and all examination
results are currently published in the University Calendar, which is
on sale to the public for anyone sad enough to buy it.
Previously, result lists were provided to any national newspaper that
showed an interest, and latterly were included in the Gazette (a
newspaper status publication as is presumably the Cambridge
Reporter). These two avenues have now been superceded by the
Calendar and we are currently partly into Web publication and getting
ourselves into a tangle in the process.
I personally think the D.P. Registrar has gone too far in her
interpretation of consent to publication. I would take the view that
in this respect universities are necessarily repositories of
publicly accessible information and that eventual publication of
examination results is an implied (at least) part of the contract
with the student (i.e. there is implied consent by the data subject).
One only has to think of the implications of refusing prospective
employers independent confirmation of qualifications claimed by
candidates for posts. In practice the applicant would have no choice
but to give consent to the verification of information which might
later form part of the basis of a contractual engagement with the
employer.
On the other hand, I (again personally) feel that world-wide
electronic dissemination of results does raise serious issues of
justification and appropriateness. Too often, it seems to me, this
either represents use of technology largely for its own sake, or
sloppy (i.e. undiscriminate) administration. I believe, therefore,
the DP Registrar does have legitimate reservations in this particular
context.
Regards.
Bill Platts
Deputy Director
Administrative Information Services
University of Oxford
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Administrative Information Services
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